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J. Virol., Jun 1997, 4852-4856, Vol 71, No. 6
Copyright © 1997, American Society for Microbiology

Novel and frequent mutations of hepatitis B virus coincide with a major histocompatibility complex class I-restricted T-cell epitope of the surface antigen

PC Tai, D Banik, GI Lin, S Pai, K Pai, MH Lin, G Yuoh, S Che, SH Hsu, TC Chen, TT Kuo, CS Lee, CS Yang and C Shih
Department of Pathology, WHO Collaborating Center for Tropical Diseases, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston 77555-0609, USA.

We examined the full-length hepatitis B virus (HBV) envelope (surface antigen or HBV small surface antigen [HBsAg]) sequences of 12 different liver samples from 10 different hepatoma-containing chronic carriers. Surprisingly, novel and frequent mutations occurred predominantly at amino acids 40 and 47 of HBsAg, in addition to within a known protective B-cell epitope (so-called group a determinant of HBsAg 124- 148). Approximately 58% of chronic carriers contain mutations at the group a determinant. The mutation frequency at the hotspot codons 40 and 47 is approximately 83%, 1 order of magnitude higher than at the known polymorphic sites of subtype-specific determinants at codons 122 and 160, which is approximately 4%. This new mutational domain is found to coincide with a major histocompatibility complex class I-restricted T-cell epitope. The potential biological significance of this novel mutation in the immunopathogenesis of HBV chronic carriers is discussed.

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